In light of the recent announcement regarding settlement between legendary composer Ilaiyaraaja and makers of the hit Malayalam movie “Manjummel Boys” we are pleased to bring to you this tidbit by SpicyIP intern Tejas Misra. Tejas explains what the dispute was about and shares his quick take on the rights of composers under the Indian Copyright Act. Tejas is a third-year law student at National Law University, Delhi, and is interested in the evolution of IPR law and its growth in India. His previous post can be accessed here.
The Curious Case of Composers and Copyright – Ilaiyaraaja Settles Copyright Dispute with ‘Manjummel Boys’ Makers
By Tejas Misra
Earlier this year in May, it was reported that noted music composer Ilaiyaraaja issued a legal notice to the makers of the Malayalam movie ‘Manjummel Boys’ for using his song ‘Kanmani Anbodu Kaadhalan‘ without prior consent, demanding an amount of Rs. 2 crore as compensation. On August 5, 2024, it was reported that the dispute was settled for INR 60 Lakhs, an amount far lower than the original amount claimed by Ilaiyaraaja.
The counsels on behalf of Illaiyaraaja in the notice had asked the makers of ‘Manjummel Boys’ to either get permission or remove the song from the movie entirely. They stated that though the song is credited in the movie, the makers did not obtain any consent, permission, or license from the ace musician to use his song. Some sources even suggest that the use of this song significantly contributed to the success of “Manjummel Boys”. This is not the first time Ilaiyaraaja has been entangled in legal disputes (see here and here for previous posts on disputes concerning Ilaiyaraaja), concerning the copyrights of the composer.
The primary contention of Ilaiyaraaja’s counsels was that despite the commercial success of the movie, no royalties have been paid to Ilaiyaraaja as the original composer. The producers of ‘Manjummel Boys’ claimed that the money from the success of the movie was given to the music recording companies who own the rights to the music. This raises the pertinent question, would it suffice to take permission from the record label, or does one have to take permission from the original composer or lyricist as well? Part of the difficulty in answering this comes down to the fact that there is not one copyright owner, but possibly several copyrights from one song under Indian copyright law.
For example (see here), copyrights exist independently for lyrics, where the lyricist is recognized as both author and first owner of copyright. Similarly, musical compositions have their own independent copyrights, with the music composer identified as the author and first owner of the copyright. Additionally, like in the present case, sound recording companies also have copyright over the recordings they produce, and the producer of a sound recording is considered its owner and has its lawful copyright.
Originally, in Indian Performing Rights Society v. Eastern India Motion Pictures Association (as discussed by Vasundhara Majithia here), the Supreme Court examined S. 17 of the Copyright Act to decide who owns the right over a musical composition played in a movie. S. 17 provides for some certain exceptions to the general principle that authors are the first owners of copyright in their works. The Court in this case held that categorically that the rights of a music composer or lyricist can be defeated by the producer of a film, and that the composers cannot demand any royalties for the same.
To rectify such changes, the 2012 Amendment was made by Parliament to the Copyright Act, largely achieved by lobbyists made up of composers and lyricists. These efforts resulted in the recognition of their right to equitable sharing in the royalties, The Bombay High Court also, in Indian Performing Right Society Ltd. v. Rajasthan Patrika Pvt. Ltd and Indian Performing Rights Society Ltd. v. Music Broadcast Ltd. (discussed by Praharsh here), has clarified that post the 2012 Amendment, authors of sound recordings are entitled to receive royalties, but made an exception for cinematograph films presented in a cinema hall. However, in another recent judgment of Vodafone Idea Limited vs Saregama India Limited & Anr (covered by Surabhi Katare here), the Calcutta High Court ruled that authors of literary and musical works incorporated into sound recordings have the default right to receive royalties for their creations.
Thus, the question of monetary remuneration to composers for unauthorized usage still remains a legal question that has recently been answered, with the Courts in favor of the music composers. In this particular case however, there is little doubt that the makers of ‘Manjummel Boys’ overstepped their bounds while utilizing a song in their film with no appropriate authorization from the singer at all. Since the entirety of the song was utilized in the movie with no prior permission, it is likely that the Court would have held this as a case of copyright violation.
The case has now been settled for a compensatory amount of Rs. 60 lakhs, thus precluding this case from going to the courts at all. Therefore, the legal question did not arise in the present case.